12 thoughts on “Spinning Tuesdays: WPI Lies, A Cautionary Tale”

I still have enough trouble getting my yarn balanced to even think about WPI. I figure I’ll eventually reach a point where I’m doing complex math based on weight of skein and length when I skeined in on a noddy (which lies as well)

I tend to eyeball it instead of reading WPI. I will still put the WPI on a yarn label, mostly just for fun, but I find I have better luck if I just look at the yarn and go with whatever it seems closest to. Between the differences in WPI ranges vs. regular knitting weights and the differences from section to section in a skein of handspun, I find it’s better to just approximate. And then I usually just design a pattern to fit the yarn rather than forcing the yarn to fit a pattern. 🙂

Back when I was running the wiseNeedle yarn review website, I got a request to include WPI in the data I collected and presented. So I did an experiment.

I went to my LYS and asked everyone who came in to do a WPI count on four different yarns. I recorded their answers, and whether or not they had used WPI or routinely relied upon it.

I found extreme variation in the results, and not only among people who were new to the concept. I concluded that WPI was too subjective to be worth the effort I’d need to invest to add it to the database.

I find WPI to be occasionally useful for me as an individual, comparing yarns in my own stash to each other. But am skeptical that without uniform training (and some way to norm tension when wrapping from person to person), WPI isn’t all that useful as a data point for comparisons between my yarn and that of someone else.

When I am looking at WIP in my handspun. I use a clear plastic 6-inch ruler like quilters use. I measure WPI while the yarn is still in the skein. I put a finger behind a number of strands. I then count the number of strands that it takes to make an inch. I do this at least twice. This gives me a average across the skein.